In a world where globalization often threatens to silence ancient voices, a powerful movement is rising—led by women who are breathing life back into Indigenous languages. These women aren’t just preserving words. They’re preserving identities, worldviews, and centuries of untold stories.

Among these cultural champions is Christina Dawa Kutsmana Thomas, a Native American woman who grew up with limited access to her roots. Raised on the Pyramid Lake Paiute Reservation in Nevada, Christina did not learn to speak her ancestral language, Northern Paiute (Numu Yadooana), as a child. Like many others, her family had been disconnected from their language due to historical oppression, forced assimilation, and trauma passed down through generations.

But today, Christina is helping to shape a bold new future for Native languages. She is now a scholar, teacher, and advocate for language revitalization—and she’s starting in the most personal way possible: with her son.

Passing on More Than Words

Christina’s journey with Northern Paiute began in adulthood, sparked by a class at the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony. What started as a personal curiosity quickly evolved into a lifelong calling. She immersed herself in the study of her heritage language and brought her family along for the ride, rekindling a connection that had nearly been lost.

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Revitalizing Indigenous languages

But she didn’t stop there.

Driven by purpose and pride, Christina spearheaded the inclusion of Northern Paiute in the University of Nevada, Reno’s curriculum, making it the first Indigenous language course offered in the state. For the first time, students could study a Native language rooted in the very land they stood on. Today, she continues her mission as a PhD candidate in Native American Studies at UC Davis, where her research focuses on Indigenous soundscapes and cultural continuity through language.

As she teaches her young son to speak Northern Paiute, Christina is doing more than parenting. She’s reshaping a legacy.

Zapotec Voices in the Digital Age

Across the border in Mexico, Professor Xóchitl Flores-Marcial is safeguarding another endangered language—Zapotec. As a historian and researcher, Xóchitl understands that language is more than vocabulary; it’s an archive of how a people see the world.

Through the Ticha Project, she’s helping digitize colonial Zapotec texts, making them accessible online to scholars and Indigenous communities alike. Many of these documents date back to the 1500s and were nearly lost to time. By preserving and sharing them digitally, she is not only protecting a language but enabling a new generation of Zapotec speakers to reconnect with their past.

Xóchitl’s work is groundbreaking, not just because of its academic value, but because it makes Indigenous knowledge visible, respected, and relevant in today’s world.

Poetry That Speaks From the Heart

Then there’s Celerina Patricia Sánchez Santiago, a Mixtec poet from Oaxaca, Mexico. Her work is not only beautiful—it’s revolutionary. Celerina writes in Tu’un Savi, the language of her ancestors. She creates literature that speaks directly to her community, breaking away from colonial languages that have dominated literature for centuries.

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Why Indigenous Languages Matter and What We Can Do to Save Them | Lindsay Morcom | TEDxQueensU

Through her poetry, Celerina proves that Indigenous languages are not just tools of the past—they’re living, breathing instruments of expression. She is helping to reframe these languages as languages of art, intellect, and power.

A Movement Rooted in Resilience

Together, Christina, Xóchitl, and Celerina are part of a growing wave of Indigenous women who are rewriting the narrative. They are not only reviving languages; they are reviving pride, belonging, and intergenerational strength. Each word they preserve or teach is an act of resistance, healing, and hope.

Their work highlights a vital truth: when languages disappear, so do worldviews, stories, and traditions. But when they survive—especially through the hands of passionate community leaders—they carry forward entire civilizations.

These women remind us that language is not just about grammar or speech. It is culture. It is memory. It is identity.

And most importantly, it is worth saving.